Page 26 - ADT NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 Online Magazine

parts from smaller U.S.-based suppliers, training signed a contract with digital manufacturing software firm General
the workers of suppliers on new additive tech- Lattice to develop a 3D printed combat helmet with improved energy
nologies, developing common, and introducing absorption. Also involved in the project are All Points Logistics and
certification for additive products. rapid manufacturing firm GoProto.

A MATTER OF SIZE STARTING EARLY

The U.S. Army will get the world’s largest metal The U.S. Navy is one of the early birds when it comes to adopting
3D printer, one big enough to manufacture full- the technology. In 2017, the service used additive manufacturing to
sized combat vehicles and small boats, in the create submarine parts. In October this year, it opened its Additive
second half of 2023 as part of a US$45 million Manufacturing Center of Excellence at the State of Virginia’s Center
project. The Jointless Hull project, which has for Manufacturing Advancement on the campus of the Institute for
Ingersoll Machine Tools as the main contractor, Advanced Learning and Research. The facility features three bays to
envisages the delivery of the 3D printer to the accelerate the use of additive manufacturing and scale it for big pic-
Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and ture use. The Navy and Office of the Secretary of Defence have also
Technology Center in Illinois, where the Army’s jointly opened a training programme called ‘Accelerated Training in
Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence is Defence Manufacturing (ATDM), which aims to teach both traditional
located. One of the standout features of the manufacturing methods as well as additive manufacturing.
Jointless Hull is that it can print with multiple
metals, including aluminum, steel, and titanium. In January, the US Naval Surface Warfare Center signed six new AM
deals, with companies as diverse as General Electric, Johns Hopkins
The machine, which would be capable of print- APL, Lockheed Martin RMS, Mercury Systems, ReLogic Research, and
ing metal parts that are 30 feet long, 20 feet
wide, and 12 feet high, will be used not just by
the Army but by other military service branches;
the Navy and the Marine Corps have already
expressed interest in using the printer. “This effort
will greatly expand the size envelope and our
capability to make large parts that are typically
required for ground vehicles,” says Dr. Aaron
LaLonde, U.S. DEVCOM Army Ground Vehicle
Systems Center (GVSC) Additive Manufacturing
expert.

The Army invested $11 million to build the
machine and contracted Ingersoll Machine
Tools to build it. The Applied Science and
Technology Research Organization of America
(ASTRO America) will manage the project that
also has other partners, including the Army © U.S. ARMY ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Combat Capabilities Development Command’s
Ground Vehicle Systems Center, Siemens Digital Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. The companies are working on
Industries, Meld Manufacturing, and LIFT. Total developing prototype projects, using 3D printing technology, that
funding for the project is US$45 million. focus on protecting military technologies from the enemy attacks.
In November, the service made news by permanently installing a
The service’s interest in 3D printing is not new. metal 3D printer aboard naval ship USS Bataan.
In 2017, the service’s Construction Engineering
Research Laboratory (CERL) successfully con- The U.S. Air Force is not lagging behind either. In August 2020, Indiana
structed its first 3D printed barracks hut, Technology and Manufacturing Companies (ITAMCO), which focuses
drastically reducing the cost of shipping build- on exploring alternatives to traditional production processes, said it
ing materials and manpower requirements. The had received phase II funding for the 3D printed version of an airport
following year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runway mat that it had developed for the United States Air Force
(USACE) developed and patented a concrete to use in temporary or expeditionary flight operations. ITAMCO is
composition that enabled 3D printing for build-
ing components demanding high structural working with Purdue University as part of the project. The service is
strength. In September last year, the service also collaborating with various industry partners to further promote
the use of the technology.
26 | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/ADT